Almost Fearless: Full Feedhttp://almostfearless.com
Almost a lot of things.Fri, 31 Jul 2015 22:57:12 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3http://users.feedblitz.com/76879e418b7079f4d60cde9bc1170449/AF_logo_4-10_Main.jpgAlmost Fearless: Full Feedhttp://almostfearless.com
http://almostfearless.com/how-we-found-home/How We Found Homehttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/103234786/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~How-We-Found-Home/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/103234786/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~How-We-Found-Home/#commentsFri, 24 Jul 2015 21:49:46 +0000http://almostfearless.com/?p=12709 ]]>
The next day at Disney, we had a wonderful time.

It’s hard to believe looking back as these photos we were just 24 short hours away from upending our lives.

By the end of the day we were all full. Just stuffed with joy. But I still felt like we were on the precipice. I couldn’t really think about what happens next, to wrap my brain around moving to Peru over Barcelona, to get a handle on yet another big move, to yet another unknown city, in yet another foreign land. I just wanted to sleep. Stella did plenty of that as my proxy:

The next day we were driving across France again, this time heading towards Straussbourg on the German border. I checked my internet and saw my friend posted this question in my “Raising Bilingual Kids” group on FB.

And this thing welled up in me. My voice shook and my heart raced as I told Drew, “Tiffiney is moving to Oaxaca…”

None of this makes sense, I know, but in the last two and half years, I have seen:

– My friend lost her child in Mexico in a freak incident involving the drug-addled boyfriend of her babysitter. I watched from afar as her community back home swept them up into their arms and took care of them.

– A travel blogger I had known online for years committed suicide. When FB posted her birthday reminder a year later, on the exact anniversary of her death, I saw travel bloggers absent-mindedly say, “Happy Birthday” on her wall, not even aware that she was dead. Some had even posted links to their own posts, self-promoting themselves on the wall of a women who had ended her life over a year ago.

– After Wes Nations died, the blogger at Johnny Vagabond, close friends attended his funeral but after years of travel and hundreds of friends made on the road, the response from the travel community was, well, muted.

– My friend Ben, who I met in Costa Rica, died suddenly at 40, he was a pediatric nurse and avid traveler. You know who celebrated him most? The people in his hometown, his friends and family, who absolutely adored him.

– And finally Wyatt, who was so beloved that they raised over $140,000 for his wife and child after his death.

Juxtapose this against the over-the-top happiness of Disney, which is beautiful and fun, but completely empty. It’s as inauthentic as it comes, literally paid actors dressed in costumes, to entertain. It’s a lovely diversion. But it’s not life. It’s not the point.

I’m not saying this to be morbid, I just want to infuse this post with some of what I felt because at the end of the day, it was a gift. I could travel the world and have the most beautiful and wonderful experiences, but without friends, without a community, what the hell did any of it matter?

“We should go to Oaxaca!” I said to Drew, trying to contain myself because I didn’t want to scare him off.

He was driving, there was a misty rain, and the windshield wipers were thumping away against the sound of French pop music. I didn’t wait for his response.

“It’s a mile high… it’s surrounded by mountains… you can still do your boy stuff. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. I mean Stella has Mexican citizenship, our path to residency is practically ensured. The food! The culture! The weather is perfect. It’s so cheap. It’s perfect, Drew.”

“Okay.”

“Really?” I asked. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and looked at me.

“Christine, I am ready, let’s settle down.”

I texted Tiffiney and told her the news. I wanted to cry. My friend Lisa is Oaxaca too. Other people I know, Alice and Sarah were in town at least for a little bit. Tons of travelers I know passed through each year. We’d have an instant community. Friends.

“OMG Tiffiney, think of the BBQs we will have with Diego (her husband),” I messaged her.

“Oh you’ll never get him out of your yard,” she wrote back.

My whole life shifted, it felt perfect, like a sudden whoosh of epiphany, and everything fell into place.

I turned around and looked at Cole, who was strapped into his car seat and playing Minecraft on his iPad.

“Cole, do you want to move to Mexico to live near Jaxon?” I said, referring to Tiffiney’s son who was Cole’s age.

“Yes…” he said, looking up from his iPad.

“Yes? Do you want to see Jaxon?” I asked.

Then Cole’s face screwed up into a pained expression and he started to cry.

“Can I see Jaxon right now?” he asked through the tears.

“Oh sweetie. Not yet, we have to fly there, but soon. You’ll see him soon.”

__

Over seven years of travel, I have seen almost everyone who started out with us stop traveling. I have seen waves of them, in fact, just one group after another, friends that we made for a season, and then, predictably, they move back home or settle down or get “real” jobs. The online travel community can feel like a thousand friendships rolled into one, but it’s like vapor-connections, they fade and vanish. We’re all just ghosts to each other, the memories of a certain time and place but rarely the friendships go much deeper. Travel burn out creeps up, but it’s not about too much travel, or going too fast, it’s about the aching absence of true connection, something that you get used to, a requirement of any traveler is to shake off homesickness and to numb those parts of us that miss the feeling of knowing a tribe of people. To have kin. To belong.

I love being an outsider, and I always will be one, but my son’s moment of tears showed me something I could have missed. It hit me in the gut. I almost didn’t see it. He didn’t know he even needed it. But it was entirely clear that my son loved having friends and that if we didn’t stop, right now and for the long-term, then I could have hurt him. He needs his Jaxon, and his own bedroom, with toys that don’t necessarily fit in a carry-on bag. Enough was enough. We were going home.

Oaxaca, Mexico. Here we come.

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http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/103234786/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~How-We-Found-Home/feed/0http://almostfearless.com/when-its-time-to-evaluate-if-working-anywhere-is-really-worth-it/When It’s Time to Evaluate if “Working Anywhere” is Really Worth Ithttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/102024642/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~When-Its-Time-to-Evaluate-if-Working-Anywhere-is-Really-Worth-It/
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I was going through my photos from Disney and I found this series of shots we took — I had completely forgotten about them. It was the second day and we spent 45 minutes waiting in line for the Toy Story parachute drop ride. So did this guy:

Do you see him? Let’s look a little closer:

“Oh hi, don’t mind me, I’m just working on my HP laptop while waiting in line at Disneyland Paris with my kids, balancing this beast of a machine on the top of my front-facing backpack. This is normal. Nothing to see here. My life is fine. Don’t ask me questions…”

He literally worked the entire time. Every time the line would snake around we’d take another photo.

Look at the determination. There was a loud cartoon playing overhead, lots of chatter, but the guy was so super focused.

His wife was hanging back with the kids. (Or at least I think those were his kids… if he went to Disney alone, to work on his laptop the whole time, I just, I don’t even know…)

When we made a documentary about working online and traveling, it was new and shiny. We started filming in 2010, and the idea of getting to work from the beach sounded — well, perfect. But if it becomes something where it’s not “being able to work anywhere” to “having to work everywhere” then the whole point is lost. It’s about having a better life, more flexibility, increased free time. It’s the exact opposite of being chained to a desk. At least in theory.

I have no idea if this is a trend or just one weird guy, but I can tell you this: I’ve seen more people chained to their devices this year than any year previous. Maybe instead of #workanywhere we should #workless. How did the 4 Hour Workweek turn into 2-years-working-100-hours-a-week-so-I-can-mini-retire-to-work-4-hours-a-week-for-one-brief-summer? I would love someone to write a truly earnest book called The 30 Hour Workweek, that explains how we can better use tech to actually work less.

Hello, Stella. You see, you go to Disney for the kids, but really, it’s for the adults, who are straight-up junkies for the joy-of-children. When we arrived, we were in a weird spot. Our friend just died, leaving behind two beautiful babies, about the same age as our kids. Drew had been at their house six weeks before, for the NYC film festival screening and it kept hitting us, over and over again. “Wyatt is gone.”

We met our friend Kayt in Disneyland and it was fun. But Drew and I felt like ghosts, moving around this massive theme park, hanging out with a friend that we love, and her family that is simply lovely, but feeling disconnected from it all.

What are we doing?

But you compartmentalize, you enjoy the big dumbo ride, and take too many photos. You don’t think about it, this weirdness that had come into your life, the unsettled feeling of missing the plot, of being just a little lost and uncertain.

You go through the motions and decide to think about it later.

It was at lunch, inside the Pirate-theme restaurant, adjacent to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride (which is way too scary for a baby, but we took her anyway), and Kayt’s mother asked us about our plans.

I trailed off, and everyone nodded and smiled, but I felt acutely aware of how strange it must sound, to say you’re moving to another country. And why? Oh to learn how to make eco-friendly huts out of mud and straw. And why? Because. Because we can. Because it seems cool. Because, because, because….

I couldn’t put my finger on it then, but I felt really sad suddenly. Was this the right thing? What were we doing anyway?

Then after lunch, we were sucked back into the Disney vortex. Stella was petrified of the Queen of Hearts (“Off with their heads! — yelled in French). Cole climbed to the top of the Swiss Family Robinson tree and said, “Really?” as we prepared to climb back down — apparently not absorbing the subtle “the journey is half the fun” message when the rest of Disney prepared him to think “the journey is a long line and then there’s an awesome ride”.

All in all it was a great. Disney Magic.

By the end of the day we were all exhausted, the kids didn’t even fight going home. I carried Cole, Drew carried Stella and we returned to our themed-hotel-room and I put the kids in a bath, and then to bed. Drew and I drank wine.

“You know what sucks?” I said to Drew, contemplating the ice in my white wine.

“What?” he said, sitting across from me on the other double bed, while both of our kids were fast asleep.

“I would love to live near Kayt. You know?”

“Yeah, and the kids. I mean Cole cried when he realized he wasn’t going to see them again,” Drew said.

We let that hang in the air, but there was something bigger going on. Tectonic plates were shifting.

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http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/101448988/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~This-Is-Not-My-Beautiful-Life/feed/0http://almostfearless.com/stepping-into-the-bizarro-world-of-disney/Stepping into the Bizarro World of Disneyhttp://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/100857580/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~Stepping-into-the-Bizarro-World-of-Disney/
http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/100857580/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~Stepping-into-the-Bizarro-World-of-Disney/#commentsMon, 13 Jul 2015 20:54:16 +0000http://almostfearless.com/?p=12676 ]]>
We arrived late in the day at the Dream Castle Hotel, outside Disneyland Paris.

I wasn’t quite ready for the shift from camping. We were a little haggard and road weary, having made the trip up from Barcelona so quickly. Then BOOM we’re in Disneyland, dragging our suitcases and grocery bags into the main lobby, smoothing down our hair and clothes as we crossed the atrium, trying to look something a little more respectable.

My friend Kayt was already in town, she and I made plans to meet at the theme park months beforehand, but somehow I kept forgetting to book something, to finalize the plans (maybe it was the $500 per night including theme park entrance that I was avoiding — it was hard to push that “Buy” button).

So I didn’t really research, I just went to their website, a little panicked because it was last-minute and picked the cheapest place that still had spots. I was sitting at McDonalds in France, using their free wi-fi, my kids running around, the sun too bright, and my battery dying. I got the tickets and closed my laptop, that was it. I had an address. A hotel name. No idea of what to expect. A week of road tripping between us and pure holiday magic. I won’t be cynical, I promised myself.

So that’s what I arrived to, the bright shiny happy world of Disney, feeling like, “Oh right, we’re grown ups, this is a place people go on vacation, with their kids.” It felt surreal, the place was so big, so quiet and so geared for kids, but also the huge group of KPMG management consultants who had taken over the hotel ballrooms for a leadership summit. There were walking, texting, heavily drinking 30-40 year olds in their navy blue (or corn blue, or slate blue, but definitely blue, blue, blue, unless it’s black) suits, texting and drinking and networking all at the same time.

Then you remember you’re in a Disney hotel, not at the Hyatt in downtown Boston, trying to remember to not get too drunk on free martinis because you have a conference call in the morning (sorry, flashed back to my days at GE there for a second).

What are we doing here? Oh right. The kids.

I looked up on the way to our room and saw this, and paused for a second as I thought it had some Arabic script. That would have been rad. It did not. Okay, Disney, let’s do this. Here we go.

According to this list, there are 2300 travel blogs of some size. Let that number roll around in your mouth: two thousand three hundred blogs. Even I am daunted by that number and I’ve been around forever.

I posted that link in my Blog Brilliantly group and here is one of the responses:

“I have to thank Christine Gilbert for kicking my arse (in a good way) otherwise I would be 8 months further into a very average travel blog and crying into my cornflakes reading this.”

and another:

“Well, that’s humbling. I heard Tim Leffel speak at the TBEX conference in Toronto a couple of years ago. I vividly remember him saying something to the effect of, “If you want to start a general travel blog, you’re a decade too late. Gadling and Matador grabbed that real estate. However, if you want to start a travel blog about, say, the best places to cross-country ski in Indiana, the field is wide open and you can own it.””

One of the things I think is daunting to people is just the pure amount of competition. 2300 blogs — and that’s just travel. If you’re doing any other niche from finance to parenting to self-improvement, there is just as much, if not more people out there. Where do you start? How do you even untangle that? I know that’s what a lot of people worry about, because that’s what my friends all talked about when we first started, and it’s the same thing we talk about now. We’re constantly trying to figure it out. So I created a blogging course that’s not really about blogging. Sure you will learn all that stuff too, how to do wordpress or affiliates or setting up a mailing list. But really it’s about one thing: clarity. It doesn’t matter what you’re blogging about or really what you’re creating. Clarity and focus is 9/10ths of the work of a creative. Just KNOWING. That makes all the difference in whether you’ll even launch. Whether you’ll keep going when it gets hard. And, surprise, it’s not something you figure out once. You have to keep figuring it out, every year. Why am I doing this? What is the point? What do I want to create? For whom?

Doing it is way easier. Execution? A breeze, really. It’s having that clear idea, a concept that makes you excited and just feels right. It’s the removal of doubt. It’s a kind of fearlessness having clarity. You march into battle, shoulders back, because no matter what the outcome is, you feel settled with your choice. That’s clarity. And people who confidently march forward do so much better than those who hesitate, change directions, pause, wait, and timidly inch along.

This summer, I’m searching for my own clarity. I always feel this way in the summer, getting ready to launch something new in January or the spring, so I usually find myself in June and July wondering what’s next. Last year I decided it was Cultures & Cuisines, a new food and travel mag that I’m collaborating with my friend Julie on. It just makes me happy that it exists. This year? I don’t want to give too much away, but I’m joining forces with two extraordinary women to do something really cool after the new year. I like the summer for this kind of contemplation… the kids play in the pool and I day dream about next steps.

Let’s make some big, crazy, life-changing plans together. This is the summer to do it!

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http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/95624378/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~Moments-Like-This-Never-Last/#commentsSat, 13 Jun 2015 07:32:58 +0000http://almostfearless.com/?p=12622 ]]>
Last night we packed up to leave Spain and head out on a road trip around Europe. In the middle of it all, clothes everywhere, kids sprawled out and sleeping on the futon in the living room, things half-cleaned and half-trashed, we got news that our friend Wyatt Neumann died.

Everything stopped.

We were beyond stunned. We still are.

He was the best of us. Such an awesome guy, super talented, and just lived life in a way that was amazing to see. Rare. Now he’s gone. To be honest, it’s thrown us. We considered staying, but that seems like the opposite of what he would have wanted. The opposite of what we should take from this. Life is short, random, and sometimes cruel. It’s also beautiful and worth living as much as you can, while you can. Wyatt was better at that than anyone.

So this morning we are continuing to pack, and we’re sad, but we’re going to do our best to enjoy this trip. To enjoy everything, because who the hell knows what will happen tomorrow.

Hug your babies, love your partner, be there for your friends.

This was my planned post below… from our last days in Lloret de Mar, Spain. Just some moments.

My online blogging course, Blog Brilliantly is one of the items in the Paradise Pack that goes on sale today — a part of a 7-day flash sale that bundles $2000 worth of ebooks and online courses together for just $197.

If you follow a ton of travel blogs, you’ll likely see this HYPED like crazy over the next week. (The website says, “Ready to travel more, work from anywhere and live your dream lifestyle?” — I love their enthusiasm, but that’s a pretty big promise.) I know when I see stuff like that, the messaging can prevent me from reading further, but I actually think in this case it’s a really good deal. My online course runs for $249 normally, so just that alone makes it’s a decent discount. However, if some of the other items are useful to you, then even better.

I got an advance copy of all the materials in the pack, and to help you make a decision (and perhaps bring down the hyperbole a bit) I’m doing a quick, real-world, no hype summary of each product. If it’s for you, great, go here to purchase. If not that’s cool too. I just want people to hear what’s included and decide if there’s enough stuff that pertains to them. Not everything will.

What do you get? Three zip files. One each for Spanish, French and German. I downloaded the Spanish one and it had three pdfs: 61 page Why Spanish is Easy ebook, a bonus 28 page to immersion study and a bonus 12 page study guide. The Why Spanish is Easy ebook gives you a framework of what to expect from learning Spanish and how to best approach it. The immersion guide deals with all kinds of little details like how to do the ñ on an English keyboard (and other things). And the study guide is a template schedule that Benny uses.

Who is it for? People trying to decide whether or not to study Spanish, French or German, or someone about to start their studies.

What do you get? A 45 page ebook on crowdfunding. Overview of the different sites, six case studies of successful campaigns, a review of her campaign (she raised close to $10,000 in USD) and a five-page checklist for your own Kickstarter. Plus a 26 minute video.

Who is it for? People who want an overview of how to approach crowdfunding.

What do you get? Access to his online course, which includes modules on: becoming a freelance SEO writer, becoming a web developer, remote work agreements, business structure, pay-per-click, project management, social media, freelance SEO work, e-commerce stores, passive income, copywriting, technical writing, advertising, and affiliate marketing. Each module has multiple lessons from three to two dozen.

Who is it for? People who want to make money online and are interested in SEO or copywriting.

What do you get? Access to his online course which has 13 lessons on creating and selling products online starting with choosing a product and finding your audience all the way to launching, marketing and selling.

Who is it for? People who want to create a product they can sell online and want help with the marketing, set up and technical side to making that work.

What do you get? Their online course and community about house sitting. Includes six modules plus downloads and resources for everything from setting up your house sitting profile to checklists you can use when you have an assignment.

Who is it for? People who want to learn how to get house sitting gigs, and support for questions as they come up.

What do you get? The online course is 52 weeks of instruction (format: one video per week, 40-60 minutes long, plus resource materials). There are breaks every 3-4 weeks for implementation. There is an active private FB group.

Who is it for? Bloggers who want to improve their writing and photography and create products.

What do you get? A 280 page ebook that does a breakdown of living overseas with country by country guides (he just covers expat-friendly destinations, i.e. affordable and easy visas). The country sections cover 18 countries with first hand reports from expats in each. Plus access to his private FB community and 5 special reports and series of audio and video lessons.

What do you get? A 172 ebook on how to use Airbnb to earn money from your house or apartment while you travel. Plus access to his online course with 45 lessons on “Airbnb Mastery” (About $117 USD on Udemy with 1,500 former students).

Who is it for? People who have a place they can rent out on Airbnb while they travel.

Family Travel Guide to Long-Term Travel (value $49) by Sean Keener

What do you get? A 35 page ebook on planning long-term travel when you have kids.

Who is it for? Families who want to travel long-term.

Take a Career Break and Give Yourself a Raise (value $49) by Sherry Ott

What do you get? A 37 page ebook on how to take a break from your career to travel.

Who is it for? People who want to return to their jobs after a period of travel.

What do you get? Four weeks of content. Each week is composed of multiple interviews, the subjects are all successful online entrepreneurs (or “digital nomads”).
Who is it for? People looking for “digital nomading” inspiration.

Hopefully that was helpful.

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http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/93562897/0/feedburner/1lj03zp~Create-Camp-is-Coming/#commentsFri, 29 May 2015 17:34:26 +0000http://almostfearless.com/?p=12569 ]]>
After the huge success of our first “Hell Week” — I received emails from people asking, “When’s the next one?” Well, here it is, coming this September to idyllic Tossa de Mar, which is north of Barcelona on the Costa Brava coast. After some reflection, I decided to change the name… it wasn’t a hell week so much as a create week, so Create Camp was born.

What is Create Camp?

The week-long workshop started because my workshop students asked for it. Last November, as we finished a Blog Brilliantly workshop in Barcelona, everyone said: “Wouldn’t it be great, if we could just do another week, just sit down somewhere and put all these ideas into practice?”

Here’s what I learned from running the first one: what really holds us back from creating the projects we want to create — whether that’s a blog, a book or a business — is not our desire. It’s time. It’s having the space to focus on your work and get it past that first big milestone, to have something done and launched and out in the world. In my own career, I’ve made space for that without realizing it. What I saw from our first week retreat was just how transformative the following combination can be:

– Space to work and time dedicated to a single project
– No distractions from daily life
– Someone takes care of meals and clean up for you
– Support of an experienced creative who has “been there, done that”
– Tech support for issues with WordPress, themes, Mailchimp, Dropbox, Lightroom, etc
– A beautiful location with quiet and time for reflection
– A community of creatives to bounce ideas off of and gather strength from as you tackle your project

One week, one house, one project. Focus.

What if I don’t know what I’m doing?

We have people at all phases of their creative careers. Some people are super techie and need help with vision and focus. Others are just starting out and don’t know a lick about WordPress. I’ve been teaching this stuff since 2011, I’ve built or created many of the things attendees are working on (a blog, photography, workshops, online courses, ebooks, a book proposal, a book, video, a full length documentary, crowd funding and more). Bring your idea! That’s where we start. Then it’s about breaking it down into actionable steps and moving forward with your plan. It’s diving in, it’s a leap, it’s not easy, but it is easier. We can get you there.

How does it work?

We live in a villa for a week, meals and beverages are included (unlimited coffee, tea, wine and beer, because: obviously) and there’s a schedule. Up at 7 AM. Bed by 10 PM. Strictly enforced. No social media, except at the end of the day, unless it’s for your project. Time to work, but also one-on-one sessions to make sure you’re on track every day. Group lessons about productivity, workflow and creative projects. You’ll hear about each other’s projects, learn about the struggles and successes of the fellow attendees. It’s a full week. There’s also time to reflect, sit in the garden, look out at the gorgeous view (check out the pictures of the house, it’s a villa perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, just 100 m from the beach, via stairs that lead down directly from the property). There’s fantastic food. Last time, I did a seafood paella over a wood fire. I’m a foodie at heart, so that makes it way into the menu.

Space is extremely limited and several spots have already been reserved. I’m opening up registration with two options: 10% off if you pay in full before June 6th, or $250 deposit (the rest paid 30 days before the event) but the second option goes away after June 6th as well. Here’s the page for more information.

Hope to see you there!

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The film is here!The film is here!The film is here!

If you’ve followed this blog since the beginning (the very first post was on April 26, 2008) then you might remember this site’s tagline was once: “Quit Your Job. Travel the World.”

A little context: Tim Ferriss’ NYT best selling book the 4 Hour Workweek had just come out a year earlier; I was one of the first people to do take his advice: Drew and I sold our house, saved like mad for a year, and took the big, scary leap to living abroad and working for ourselves. The first two years were cushioned by our ample savings and the fact that Drew had kept his job — working remotely as a graphic designer.

A lot has changed. Through the making of The Wireless Generation, we met people who found ways to travel that had nothing to do with quitting their job. As we traveled and interviewed people what became even more clear was that it was hardly about the job at all. Some people transitioned their careers to online, others started new businesses, but the big driving force behind all of it wasn’t even the travel. It was what happens next. How does cutting out your commute, getting to live wherever you want, keeping the hours you want — and a shift to more work-life balance than ever — change you?

For us, it has meant Drew and I both got to be stay-at-home parents and enjoy our kids. For the people in our film it has meant everything from overcoming shyness, to honing their photography skills, to volunteering around the world, to raising children who are global citizens.

As one person put it in the film: “We decided to buy experiences instead of things.”

Filming these stories changed us too. I stopped thinking about “digital nomading” or “work anywhere” as a destination. It’s not about that. It’s also not about quitting your job or running out to become a writer (although I love that I did that, and for me, that was absolutely needed). It humbled me and made me see how big this digital shift really is: what if we live our lives according to our joy wherever we are? What if we save and scrimp not for more stuff, but for better experiences? Is this the very simple answer to being happier?

As we filmed, the concept of the film changed. We didn’t make a film about “how to work online and travel the world” because honestly, maybe that’s not the answer for everyone. We tried to make a film about why this change, this shift in perspective was so life-altering for the people we interviewed. Somehow, that seemed so much more important of a story to tell.

Starting this weekend, the film is available for streaming or as a digital download. We’ve partnered with VHX which has hosted a number of independent documentaries and you can find our movie’s page here.

Soon the DVD will follow.

JOIN THE CREATORS FOR AN ONLINE Q&A

On June 1st 9:00 AM EST, Drew and I will be hosting a Google Hangout to answer questions about the film. It will be live and recorded for YouTube.

THANK YOU

This film has been a labor of love for Drew and I but also for so many of the people involved. A huge heart-felt thank you to all the Kickstarter supporters, friends and family who made this film possible. I hope you guys like it.

Drew and I were reunited two weeks ago, in a scene that was less climactic then we both imagined. It had been three months apart, and as the date approached I wondered how the kids would take it. The exact conversation with my two-year old, Stella:

Me: Daddy is coming in four days.

Stella: Yeah four days. Daddy is coming in four days?

Me: Yes! What are you going to do when he comes? Hug him?

Stella: Yes hug him.

Me: And give him a kiss?

Stella: Yes give him a kiss.

Me: What else?

Stella: I am going to punch him in the face.

Me: Wait, what? You’re going to punch Daddy in the face?

Stella: Yeah I am going to kiss him and then punch in him the face. Yay!

Drew arrived at the airport a few days later, rented a car and drove to the apartment we were renting in Lloret de Mar. He rang the door bell. I came downstairs, sick as a dog, Stella on my hip, and I let him in. I cautioned him to not kiss me on the mouth and Stella buried her face in my neck. We smiled at each other as we rode up the elevator to the fourth floor, I crawled into bed and finally, with someone there to look after the kids, I took a long, flu-induced nap. I slept for two days straight.

Not exactly the homecoming Drew and I had anticipated.

You know what’s really nice though? After three months apart, just having him there. Just near me. Even when I was sick. It was like my body just gave in, like finally, yes Christine, you can be sick now. It’ll be okay. Drew is here. It was just pure relief.

It took a bit but the kids warmed up to Drew again. Within a few hours they were leaping into his arms for that long-awaited hug. By the second day it was like he had never left. I slept and he took them to the park, the carousel, and the beach. He made them meals and wiped their boogers. (They were sick too — one of the gifts from our last leg of travel). They played Legos and watched movies together. The family routine returned.

Meanwhile, Drew and I continued a conversation we had been having over Facebook chat over the last month.

Drew: I want to do something else.

Me: Like what?

Drew: I want to get fit, I want to live in the mountains, I want to get out of big cities for a while.

Our plan had been to stay in Barcelona after the film tour, to prepare for sending Cole to school starting in the Fall of 2016. But Drew was doing something strange. Unheard of. After seven years of traveling together, where I planned, plotted and schemed our way around the world and Drew simply showed up and carried stuff, he was flipping the script. Drew had a travel request. He had somewhere he wanted to go.

For years our conversations about travel have gone like this:

Me: So where should we have the baby? Argentina?

Drew: Sure!

Me: Or how about Thailand?

Drew: Okay.

Me: No really, where? What about Mexico?

Drew: Mexico sounds nice.

Three months of traveling around the US and my husband returns wanting to leave Barcelona. He has this thing he wants to do.

Then I put it together. He turned 39 on April 30th, the last day of the film tour, just two days before he flew home to see us. In a year, he’d be forty. 40. Forrrrrty.

Okay, so the mountains. Somewhere new. Something Drew will like. His big year of travel before that moment when he’s no longer a kid.

I love Barcelona. But I love Drew more. We spun the globe and picked a spot. Peru. Neither of us had been before. Great food. Good base to launch out to other parts of South America. He can do big adventures in Patagonia. I can take cooking classes. One year in Peru, the year before my baby, my first baby anyway, turns an age that feels like a hard-line. He’s going to get fit. Climb mountains. Grow an epic beard.

Then, in a year, we return. I think. Although, as you can see, life has a way of changing even the best laid plans.